'Haunted' Lime Bar in Witham, Hull Near Site Of 1868 Warehouse Disaster

SIGHTINGS of "shadow people", a doorbell that apparently rings without being connected to a power supply and mysterious footsteps.

It is enough to give even the most sceptical of bar workers food for thought regarding the existence of spirits of the non-drinkable variety.

Gary Hayley, owner of the Lime Bar nightclub at No.1 Witham, close to Lime Street and the River Hull, says his staff have been left terrified by unexplained goings-on.

Now, they have called on the expertise of Hull PSI in a bid to get to the bottom of the mystery.

"Several of us have suddenly felt the temperature in a room drop for no apparent reason.

"We have also seen some shadows and one night three of us were standing in the bar at 3.30am, after we had closed, and heard the door bell ring.

"We checked and it was not connected to a power supply."

Mark Lindsay, a member of Hull PSI, made an interesting discovery about the site.

"I uncovered a tragic accident that killed several people," said Mr Lindsay.

According to newspaper reports of the day, a warehouse, which once stood close to where Lime Bar is today, collapsed on Friday, September 25, 1868, killing eight people.

Coverage of the tragic accident made headline news across the country, as well as the Hull Packet and East Riding Times – a pre-runner to the Hull Daily Mail.

Our predecessors stated other reports had been "considerably exaggerated", but there was no taking away that it was a serious accident.

The Old Sugar House, as it was known, was used by Messrs Walker and Smith to store linseed, according to both articles.

Mr Lindsay said: "The articles give considerable detail regarding the hours before the collapse, the falling of the building and the rescue attempts made throughout the afternoon.

"The inquest on the eight who died, one of whom was a six-year-old boy who had just been passing the building, concluded that the collapse was caused by the overloading of a building already weakened by decades of subsidence of the pillars and foundations that held the lower floor.

"Is this building haunted by the people who died in 1868?"

Built in 1731, the building was the first prominent structure that met the eye of a person entering Lime Street.

Its dimensions, according to the newspaper report, were 79ft in length, 46ft in breadth, and 74ft in height, with 138 windows.

Mr Lindsay said: "There have been several contradictory statements with regards to the number of persons present at the time of the accident.

"But it seems pretty certain that there were about 20 men and boys in the building."

The London paper states a five-year-old boy was among the dead, but there is no mention of a child fatality in the Hull paper.

Mr Lindsay said observations made during a recent, preliminary investigation at Lime Bar would merit another visit.

"When I was at the building, I took electric and magnetic readings," he said. "All fluctuated around the building."

The Hull Packet and East Riding Times report, which describes efforts to rescue the stricken men, carries the headline, "Dreadful Calamity In Lime Street".

It stated: "It would appear that, at about a quarter past eleven, seven coopers were at work in the cooperage, which is on the ground floor of the building, when a tremendous crash was heard, followed immediately by a downfall of bricks, linseed and debris."

Some of the dead were named as Francis Harrison, 27, James Woolsten, 55, George Gilliard, 30, and William Watkinson, 25.

Mr Hayley said he is eagerly anticipating the results of the in-depth investigation.

"It's little things that are bothering us. It's not a nasty presence," he said. "It's more intriguing and we would like to get to the bottom of it."

SOURCE: Hull Daily Mail

Castle Street

Castle Street

There is no wonder this area has activity given the past goings on here.

The Cemetery was an overspill cemetery for the Holy Trinity Church, next to it on the spot of the Comfort Friendly Hotel was one of the older Hull Jails, and standing opposite was a mortuary! It was also rumoured that there was a set of gallows along here, which may go some way to explain our next sighting.

Many years ago a friend of the family was driving along here on his way to pick up his son from the train station. He drove to the station and picked up his son before setting off back home. As he neared the roundabout on Castle Street near the cemetery he noticed a female figure in what appeared to be white clothes, her tongue was protruding, her head on a side and her eyes bulging. The driver, his wife and son saw the figure. The dog was cowering in the back seat! The family pulled over to try and get a better look but by now the apparition had vanished, but a couple of other vehicles pulled up. They too had seen the mystery woman, one said her clothes looked like that of a nurse, the other claims she was hanging in thin air.

Whatever or whoever she was it is a very spooky place to be at night!

Credits go to Mike Covell
All the above is his personal research http://hull.aforumfree.com/t74-ghostly-tales 

St Andrews Shopping Centre

St Andrews Shopping Centre

Situated off Hessle Road in an area that was once synonymous with fishing families and factories. Several stores on the precinct have had unusual activity including a store were all the stock in the stock room was moved over night. A store where the toilets could be heard to flush after hours, even though they are manual.

The strangest encounter was weeks after the site opened in 2001. A store alarm had triggered and the security team alerted the manageress and the Police, who duly turned up and began to enter the building. Upon entering the alarm was deactivated but banging could be heard at the rear of the store. A check on the CCTV revealed there was no one at the rear of the premises, so the Police concluded that there must be an intruder in the stock room.

Batons and torches at the ready they opened the stock room door and found no one within the building, stranger still as they opened the door the banging stopped almost as if something or someone had been released!

Other stores experienced the loud banging and security would train there CCTV on the location to reveal no earthly cause. On another occasion a security guard was so convinced he had seen “something” he took to his heels and ran to the spot were the “thing” should have been, only for nothing to be psychically there! After reviewing the CCTV footage it appears the mist moved off away from him as he rounded the corner.

Drowned Parents

Location: Hull - Brazil Nut Company, east bank of the river Hull (now Thompson's Plastics?)

1960s and 1970s

For many years, the banks of the River Hull have been associated with the story of a drowned couple. Some thought at first, that they were lovers who took part in a suicide pact. It is only when you hear the ghost story  of the Brazil Nut Company that some light is shed on the identity of the couple.

The story first came to light in the early 1970's when a female member of staff, who worked as a nut picker was on her way to the toilet.  To get to it she needed to walk down a passage that connected the yard and the toilet. As she did so, she looked up at what appeared to be a grey haired woman wearing a shawl come through  the outside wall. The woman appeared to e dripping wet. The female worker froze as the wet lady came near to where she stood and then turned, retraced her steps and went back through the wall she had come through. This was strange as there had never been a doorway there and on the other side of the wall is a bay where barges came along to unload the nuts needed at the mill.

Ghost Captured On Video At Manchester Arms Pub In Hull's Old Town

WHEN the landlady calls time, she is the visitor who refuses to leave.

A spooky spirit affectionately dubbed "Beryl" has been causing mischief at The Manchester Arms in Hull.

She flickers lights, turns off machines, plays with hair, causes floods and has even been captured on CCTV.

Lisa and Mark Fowler took over the Old Town pub ten weeks ago and have been experiencing some spooky goings-on ever since.

"Sometimes, it feels like someone is running fingers through your hair," said Lisa, 38.

"Other times, it feels like someone is behind you, but when you turn round, you catch a shadow in the corner of your eye but nothing is there.

"Then I couldn't believe it when I saw the CCTV footage."

On the evening of November 1, Lisa had been preparing to go to bed, in the family's home above the pub, when she went into the office to check the computers.

Mark was downstairs cleaning the bar when Lisa spotted something on the CCTV screen.

She said: "I phoned down to one of our barmaids, Gemma, and asked her if she'd let anyone else in.

"She said no but I could definitely make out a lady on the screen.

"I went running downstairs to see what was going on, but there was nothing there."

The Scale Lane pub is one of the oldest in Hull, dating back to the 1700s.

It is believed Beryl was part of the pub's rich history and, at some point, was a regular.

Lisa says the woman looks like she is in her fifties. She appears to be wearing a fur collar and is looking down the bar towards the front door.

Lisa said: "One night, we were working and the Coca-Cola went off. We'd only just changed it, so thought it was odd it had ran out, so I sent one of the staff to the shop for some bottles.

"When we had time later, we went down to the basement and the pipe leading to the coke had been loosened.

"The hatch to the cellar is under the bar and had been shut all night, no one could have gone down there."

Lisa and Mark, who live at the pub with their children James, 16, and Alicia, 12, say they can sometimes see frosty breath in the cellar, even though it is kept between 12 and 14 degrees.

Other spooky feelings include cold patches in certain areas of the pub and a weight on your body, as if someone is leaning on you.

The ghost has also been turning off a pump, which stops the basement from flooding in heavy rain.

But despite getting "goosebumps", Lisa is convinced the ghost is a friendly one.

She said: "I'm not one of these people that believes in silly goings-on.

"I used to explain things away like an electrical fault or just shadows, but, after the CCTV footage, I'm convinced.

"Thankfully, I think she is friendly – it doesn't feel sinister when she is around."

Underwear Stealing Poltergeist Story in Hull

Read the full story and watch the video provided by Hull Daily Mail....

Click here.

"Terrified" Hull woman Pauline Hickson says she was forced to moved seven times by ghosts that stole her bras – and even used the shower. 

When her underwear started going missing, little did she know it would signal the start of two years of hell.

Because what could have been dismissed as a slight annoyance, was actually the work of forces beyond this world and one of many paranormal pranks that would ruin Pauline Hickson's life.

The 58-year-old says she was forced to move home seven times in two years because she has been followed around by two ghosts, who would steal her bras, take her jewellery and even use the shower.

But now, after a so-called "hypno-exorcism'"– a little-known ghost busting technique – she says she is free of the mischievous spirits and finally living her life.

"I thought I was going crazy," said Pauline, of Essex Street, west Hull.

"I didn't know why it was happening to me, it was like living through hell and I had no one to turn to."

The spooky happenings started two years ago, after she moved into a bungalow in Endike Lane, north Hull.

Within a few weeks of living there, Pauline felt a presence she could not explain and strange things would happen while she was out of the house.

Pictures started slipping off the walls, the shower room was being used and there were scratches left up and down the doors.

She would come in from a day out and be greeted by the mess left behind by the ghosts, who she says would also rifle through her belongings, send the temperature either soaring or plummeting in her home and even leave her a cup and spoon out ready for a hot drink.

Pauline, who was living with her nephew at the time, said: "One day me and my sister came back from the shops and the kitchen looked like someone had wiped it down with dirt and then freeze-dried it. There were scratches up the walls to."

It was the final straw for Pauline, who packed up her belongings and moved to Cambridge – but she was followed and the same spooky pranks started happening again.

Within a few months she returned to Hull, this time to Orchard Park, with her niece, but it was not long before her clothes, including her bras, went missing again.

Then, an old doctor's note in her name from when she lived in the bungalow was placed mysteriously on the table.

Terrified, she moved into a hostel and then into Redbourne Street, off Hessle Road, but there was no escaping the ghostly presence.

"All the way through, the exact same things were happening. I ended up staying in hotels because I was too scared to go home," she said.

"I thought my family were doing it to me. I didn't believe anyone and I started to lose people from my life. I would spend all day just wandering around the streets, trying to stay out of the house."

She moved into her current home in Essex Street but when things started going awry again, she sought help from medium Anita Gordon, who led her to Hull's well-known ghostbuster Steve Kneeshaw.

He put her under hypnosis, which he combined with an exorcism, and the results were instant.

He reported feeling a "blast of cold air" and then saw an old, large man and a 14-year-old boy, fly past him.

Since then, Pauline has not experienced a hint of paranormal activity in her home.

She suspects the ghosts are associated with an old dressing table she bought before she moved into the bungalow, in which she found a ruby wedding anniversary card and other personal items.

Now she feels she has had a spiritual awakening and is looking to move out of Hull and start a ghost-free life.

She said: "If Steve hadn't come along, I would have been gone. It was taking my soul and spirit away. It was like I was dead inside, but now, my eyes are sparkling, my spirit is back, I look around and all I see is colour."

Haunted Family Council House - Inglemire Lane, Hull

These are photos captured by the tenants living in s haunted council house in Hull.

3 different teams of paranormal investigations have taken place, 3 house blessing, 2 house exorcisms and a celebration of mass in the property but yet the entity still remains.

Occurrences:
Items vanishing and some turning back up weeks later, photos getting turned upside down, the tenants names been called, voices, whistling and animal sounds caught on EVP, lots of photographic evidence, nice smells and awful smells lasting a few minutes in various places around the property, unexplained lights and flashes, kids toys operating on own, alarms going off around 3am on approx 30 occasions, mobile phones that haven't worked for months suddenly sounding alarms through the night, electrical appliances coming on through the night especially TV sets, furniture constantly getting moved around the house, drawers opening/closing, banging, hair being touched, responses to questions with whistling, lights flash in and off, light bulbs exploding, knocking on front door but nobody there, phone line is just static noise, scratches on visitors, lots of bad luck, financial problems, huge spiders appearing all over the house, shadows and the list goes on and on...